Peace dawns for MILF fighters

When a number of fighters of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front gave up their arms in Maguindanao recently, one of those who witnessed it, Zubayra Macatanong, was doubly happy.Macatanong is a wife of one of those who joined the ceremonial turnover of arms to the government through the Independent Decommissioning Body – in a process covered by the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangamoro, a pact signed between the government and the MILF March last year.

At the ceremony held at the gymnasium of the Old Capitol building in Simuay town in Sultan Kudarat, Macatanong was a picture of a supportive wife.

“I am here because I support my husband in the decommissioning process,” said the 45-year-old Macatanong.

The ceremony, attended by President Benigno Aquino III, top officials of the government and the MILF and local and international peace advocates was part of the normalization component of the peace agreement.

Right now, members of the Senate continues to tackle the Bangsamoro Basic Law, which when ratified, will give way to the establishment of a territory that will replace the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

For Macatanong, the decommissioning ceremony showed that peace was dawning in Mindanao.

“I believe that this signals the beginning of peace in Mindanao. This is good news as I think, after all the wars, we also deserve peace,” she said.

As a child of Lanao del Sur, Macatanong has experienced many wars she no longer remember how many.

As she recollected her experience, she ended up saying that “my family must not experience that kind of war. It is a kind of past that they must not go through in the future.”

Macatanong has nine children.

“We deserve peace”

Just like thousands of Muslims in Mindanao, Macatanong family had fled for so many times because of war.

“War forced us to flee,” she said, stressing that war is always cruel to the poor, especially to farmers.

But the most painful experience about war was losing people you love.

“Not only did we lose our homes. I also lost some members of my family.”

Young

Meanwile , Kahal, a 20-year-old Maguindanaon was optimistic that once peace in Mindanao is truly attained, the life of the Moro people will change for the better.

“If the guns will forever be silenced, it would mean that our lives will be better,” he said in the vernacular.

He considers the BBL as one of the major keys to attain peace in the region battered by war for more than three decades.

Supporting the passage of BBL, he said, is his contribution to peace.

“ Niyaba BBL na makanggulalan sa tidtu – tidtu a kalilintad sa mga Moro (The BBL will pave the way to genuine peace for the Moro people),” he said.

The native of Pikit in North Cotabato was a “would-be” fighter of the MILF. He trained in Camp Darapanan in Sultan Kudarat for almost two years, but never been on the frontlines of wars. Witnessing the decommissioning ceremony, he said it marked the sincerity of MILF to end its war.

“Min-decommission e mga MILF a ka endu nilan maipelay su bantang a kapedsuporta nilan sa kalilintad para dili mangandam e madakel (The decommissioning of MILF shows their genuine support to peace, so people will not feel any apprehension),” he said.

Makambaya-baya na gobyerno

Meanwhile, Arba Solaiman admitted to having prevented her husband from being including in the list of MILF fighters who submitted themselves in the decommissioning process.

The 43-year-old wife of a 50-year-old Moro rebel said she doubted the process, saying it may not benefit the MILF – or was just a ploy that will render the Moro struggle insignificant.

But she later allowed her husband after having been finally “fully informed” that the purpose of the process was to prepare MILF fighters and their families to live normal, civilian lives.

“ Minyug akun ka tu ba e inisugo nu umpungan , ka endu makambaya – baya sa gobyerno e mga Moro (I allowed him to do so because it was advised by the front, and that the Moro people may achieve government with greater self-determination).”

Her husband has been waging war for 30 years.
For her, his battle is – without a doubt – the battle of the Moro people.

“Dala malidu e ginawa ko ka katawan ko bun a aden kapyanan na kahanda na penggulan nin (I did not worry in the past because I knew what they have done was of great aspirations).”

Arba has high hopes of brighter future for her two sons and a daughter, and pursuing them holding guns and bullets won’t be an answer.

However, she does not want for her children to join the rebellion.

Her two sons are now police officers in Quezon City, and her daughter works abroad as a computer science professional.
“Di ko kalinyan a makaamung pan silan sa kapedtimbaka. (I don’t want them to be included with the exchange of bullets in the wars).

During the ceremony, the families of the MILF fighters were comforted by the message of MILF Chair Al Haj Murad Ebrahim.

“The decommissioning of our members and turnover of weapons is the proclamation of our commitment to peace, not by words, but by actions,” he said. “I see 145 stories of struggle, of pain, of hopelessness, and even of death. Yet I also see 145 stories of hope and faith that indeed peace is near and that all sacrifices have been worth it.”

President Aquino, meanwhile, noted that the decommissioning showed the trust of MILF to the Philippine government – despite the uncertainly of the fate of the BBL at the hands of the Filipino lawmakers.

The BBL, which is now being studied in the congress, aims to establish the Bangsamoro government.

“This is the truth — our brothers and sisters in the Bangsamoro are not asking for something unreasonable; what they want – a decent and peaceful life – what every Filipino desires,” said the MILF chair.

The families of the decommissioned families will receive ‘socio-economic development assistance’ from the government.

ARMM Governor Mujiv Hataman lauded the MILF for being committed to the establishing peace in Mindanao.

“This is the act of peace, the show of sincerity in the peace process that we have all been waiting for from the MILF and the government” he said. (Bureau of Public Information)

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